Page 206 of Auctioned

Two shots to the head, and Camden is down. Torturing him would mean putting Ophelia’s life—she’s alive, damn it—in danger.

I won’t allow that to happen.

Fuck.

The hollowness in my chest changes. Pressure. I’m consumed by it. Almost drowning. That’s how awful this pain is.

I’m dying. My body is shutting down on itself.

Ophelia.

The first night in the cell, how I spread her legs. Checked her. Treated her like property. A piece of land I owned. She was so sweet.

The evenings that followed.

Every meal, every time I touched her. She wanted me more and more. Needed me.

Fuck.

Her angry tears in my bed. Her soft smiles. Her depraved desires.

All these moments are close and yet so far away.

As I stare into Topher’s blue, shocked eyes, the memories of her drift even farther.

Come back. Stay. Don’t go. Don’t leave me here alone.

I can’t live without you.

I’m talking to the memories of her.

I’m keeping them. We’ll have so many more of them.

A light touch on my heel. A brush of a delicate hand.

I can’t let my imagination get the better of me.

“Dad, please, I?—”

Pow. Pow. Pow. Pow.

I’m not sure how many rounds I empty into Topher’s face.

What I’m sure of is that I didn’t miss a single one.

He’s unrecognizable by the time he drops to the floor in a loudthunk.

The pressure in my chest intensifies as I consider what I have to do next. A rope cinching around my lungs. A thousand-ton brick crushes me beneath its weight.

I won’t survive it if I turn around and she’s dead.

Throughout my entire life, I’ve been invincible.

Vicious. Destructive.

I’m none of those things. Not anymore.

I’m all emotion. All pain. All hurt.

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